When we greet someone or call up a friend on the phone, how does the conversation start? “How are you?” “I am good.” “And you?” “Good”. How many times do we have this conversation with various people...
I say stupid things. Not really intentionally, but sometimes the circuit leading to my mouth bypasses the brain. This can be a dangerous thing in our culture today. I grew up with the limerick that “sticks and stones will break my bones, but words...
During this pandemic, The New York Times ran an article “Before Virus Outbreak, a Cascade of Warnings Went Unheeded.” (NYT, 19 March 2020) Taiwan accused the WHO of not heeding its warning of “Coronavirus Human-to-Human Transmission.” (National...
I always get a chuckle when I get an “urgent” email message from my wife. The heading always comes with a highlight telling me to “read the whole message.” My wife knows that along with today’s generation that I, too, have the attention span of a...
My heart goes out to the guests on news analysis shows. After spending years acquiring expertise in their fields, they get invited to share their knowledge. But then, when asked a question, before they get ten words into their answers they are...
Communication technology promised to be a blessing and in many ways it has been. Without question, cut and paste beats crumpling up the paper and starting again, and photocopying beats getting mimeograph ink on a new shirt. (For younger readers, in...